The 'At Last' Adventure
by Animorpher19
Summary: Reynie, Sticky, Constance, and Kate have finally beaten Mr. Curtain once and for all. And to reward them, Mr. Benedict makes them the adventure that they were never able to have until now. Fun, excitement, and mystery await them in this (perfectly safe?) adventure of the Mysterious Benedict Society!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Rude Awakenings and Something about Bighorn Sheep

"So children, you are probably wondering why I have gathered you all here on such short notice," said Mr. Benedict from his seat on the floor. It was barely morning, with just enough sun peeking over the horizon so that one could see where they were going and avoid having any nasty falls, but it was still too early for most people to even consider getting out of bed, let alone the members of the Mysterious Benedict Society (except Kate, but then again Kate was always moving and bustling about), so although they were surprised when Rhonda came into their rooms and told them that Mr. Benedict wished to see them, they were not surprised that Kate was already running about looking as if she had woken up from a restful sleep hours ago.

Reynie and Sticky were somewhat reluctant to arise from their slumber, but they both realized that Mr. Benedict would not have asked for them at such an hour if it were not important. In fact, he rarely saw them nowadays as he was almost constantly busy in his study. The Whisperer had been finally secured from the hands of Mr. Curtain (who was now undergoing a _very_ long sentence in prison), but there was still tons of work to do, both of the physical and paper kind. Mr. Benedict Had finally decided to use the Whisperer for the good of the people, and after the success with both Constance and his own narcolepsy, he was convinced that he could finally help people in the ways he always wanted. And the government was no longer breathing down his back thinking that he was trying to con them or do something for his benefit only, so he had the freedom to fulfill his dream. But first safety procedures needed to be put into place, and people had to be found to be cured (depressingly, there was not a lack of these), and they had to be screened to make sure they weren't a Ten Man in disguise, and a million other thing had to be done as well, so the only time anyone would ever see Mr. Benedict was when he came in briefly to load up a tray during mealtimes, and then he would head right back to work.

It was Contance, however, who had the most trouble getting up in the morning, and the fact that it was barely light outside made it even worse. She loved Mr. Benedict, especially because he had adopted her into his family, but she was still just a small child, and while her heart was telling her to go to Mr. Benedict, her body was telling her to go back to sleep. So, it took the other three members of the Mysterious Benedict Society and Rhonda to wake her from her sleep and get her out of her bed, and then form a barricade around it so she couldn't get back into it. Grumbling about "wanting more sleep" and "Bighorn sheep," Constance reluctantly put on her slippers (with the left one on the right and the right one on the left, so that Kate had to go and switch them), and walked out of her room without even brushing her teeth, intent on hearing what Mr. Benedict had to say, and then return back to her bed.

"I'm sorry for waking you all up so early," said Mr. Benedict (and they could tell he meant it), "but this is one of the only times that I can meet with you, and besides, starting right now will give you more time as well, and I'm sure you will want all the time you can spare."

"Starting what right now?" exclaimed Constance in an exasperated and tired tone of voice. "Why did we have to get up at this ungodly hour?!" She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at Mr. Benedict with as much anger as she could muster at him that early in the morning, all the while trying not to fall asleep right then and there.

"Connie girl, relax geez," said Kate. "Waking up early never hurt anyone. I do it all the time!"

"I think what the girls are trying to say," said Sticky to Mr. Benedict and Rhonda, "is that they are very excited about this surprise you have planned for us, and are merely wondering if you would elaborate upon your previous statement in which you introduced it."

"I was just getting to that," said Mr. Benedict with a smile. "You see, I have tried time and time again to reward you all with some puzzle, challenge, or adventure for risking your lives and saving people time and time again, but every time I tried my brother would end up getting mixed up in it, and things would not end up going well. So, I have devised a series of challenges for you, which you shall be doing instead of your lessons."

At this Constance's ears perked up, for she did not particularly enjoy the lessons that Mr. Benedict normally had them do every day as opposed to traditional schooling.

"Some of these challenges should be straightforward, while others will require all of your talents combined." At this he smiled at each of the children in turn, and they beamed. "Lastly, at the end they will be a surprise that I think you will all enjoy quite a lot."

"When do we start?" asked Reynie, while the others suddenly became wide awake at stared intently at Mr. Benedict.

"Right now," replied Mr. Benedict with a grin, and he handed Reynie a sealed white envelope.

* * *

 **So there we have it! My first story. Hope you liked it and enjoyed! If you did, a comment would be much appreciated or just general writing advice. Happy Reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Some Guidelines and Rules, and a Smidge of Exposition

"Now, I can tell you are all very eager to start your adventure," said Mr. Benedict as the children stared hungrily at the letter in Reynie's hand's barely able to hold themselves back from tearing it open.

"But before you run off, I just want to establish a few 'rules', shall we say. First off, there will not be any adult chaperones on his excursion of yours. Besides, you would probably end up 'loosing' them at some point early on anyway."

At this Mr. Benedict laughed a clipped, high pitch laugh, not unlike the noise that a dolphin would make. Number Two, who happened to be walking by the room at that very moment, jerked her head back towards the sound of Mr. Benedict's laugh, before remembering herself and, with a shake of her head, continued on downstairs.

Mr. Benedict had a sleep disorder known as narcolepsy. Emphasis on _had_. You see, Constance Contraire, along with proficiency in complaining and getting what she wanted, also had a few unique talents as well. One of these, which only seemed to be understood by Mr. Benedict, had succeeded in getting rid of his narcolepsy. So now whenever a strong emotion came over him (for that is what triggered his narcolepsy in the past), he was able to experience it without falling asleep.

However, his two assistants gone adopted daughters Rhonda Kazembe and Number Two (the latter despised her real name and insisted on using a code name instead) still had trouble adjusting to his new lifestyle. In the past they had always been on the alert for Mr. Benedict, whether it be watching out for sharp objects in his path or catching him after he had fallen asleep unexpectedly. But now they had to start getting used to him not really needing him in that respect anymore, and it was taking some getting used to.

"Sorry about that," said Mr. Benedict as his laughter subsided. "But it is true that you have quite the record for getting rid of adults, whether they be friendly or foe."

"But Mr. Benedict, we never _meant_ to get rid of our parents or Milligan or any of them!" exclaimed Kate. "Something would just always come up, or we'd find a clue, or..."

"Kate," said Sticky with a glance at Mr. Benedicts smiling but patient face, "he knows."

"Oh, replied Kate," now feeling somewhat awkward. "Okay. Yeah. Sorry! Continue please Mr. Benedict."

"Thank you for your explanation Kate, I could not have put it better myself," said Mr. Benedict with a grin. "But now, let's go back to some of the guidelines. As I said, this adventure will comprise just of you four. It will also take you beyond the confines of this house, but when that portion of your journey commences you will find that you already have all that you need. Also, I hope that you don't try to rush to the finish line. Yes, there is something waiting for you there, but I think that the journey itself will be more fun."

"Mr. Benedict really put a lot of work into this," said Rhonda. "And we all pitched in as best as we could. It's the least we could do."

"Oh, and there is one more guideline I would appreciate if you would follow!" exclaimed Mr. Benedict, for the children had begun to rise (in fact Kate was already at the door) as they were eager to begin their adventure.

"This journey will require all of your talents combined. But I request that you complete every challenge that you face, even if it is not in your current set of skills. It may be hard for you, but I feel that you will all gain more from the experience if you at least attempt to conquer the challenges that don't immediately present their solution to you."

"Okay Mr. Benedict," said Reynie, and the other children nodded in consent. "We will all make an effort to try and solve every puzzle."

The children hurriedly thanked Mr. Benedict for giving them this opportunity for an adventure and got up to leave. They had already left his room and were almost out of earshot when Mr. Benedict called after them.

"Oh, and Number Two is in Constance's room trying vainly to clean it before it inevitably gets messed up again. So, I would recommend you convene in Kate's room instead of Constance's, but then again it is just a suggestion."

The children stopped for a second, amazed that Mr. Benedict knew that they had held meetings on Constance's room, until they heard a peal of laughter emanate from behind them, and they smiled. Then they ran off to Kate's room, and their adventure officially began.


	3. Chapter 3

**Time for a random update! I've been busy trying to figure out what direction to take this story in, and I think I'm on to something good, so enjoy!**

3: An Age Old Riddle

The Mysterious Benedict Society ran up to Kate's room and immediately settled in their usual positions in a circle on the floor. Then Kate, Constance, and Sticky turned expectantly towards Reynie as he pulled out the envelope out of his pocket. Reynie noticed that it was shaped a bit differently than a normal envelope would be, but he was more interested in the contents of the envelope, which turned out to be a sheet of lightly blue tinted paper. He cleared his throat, and began reading aloud.

What Goes On 4 Feet In The Morning,

2 Feet At Noon,

And 3 Feet In The Evening?

Reynie looked up from the letter and his eyes met Sticky's. Then they both burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Kate as Constance leaned over her and grabbed the letter from beside Reynie, who had rolled over on his side and was was too busy laughing to notice.

"I'm sorry," said Sticky as he took off his glasses and wiped away at the few tears that had begun forming in his eyes. "I just expected the clue to be a lot easier!"

"What do you mean easier!" said Constance. "It's just a bunch of nonsense! Two feet in the morning and three in the evening? What about 7 feet at teatime and 3 inches for supper huh?"

"We're not trying to be mean Constance," apologized Reynie, who had stopped laughing and was sitting up straight again. "We were just expecting Mr. Benedict to give us a really hard puzzle that would take us ages to figure out, but instead it's just one of the oldest riddles known to man."

"Wait, now that you mention it I do think I've seen this somewhere before," pondered Kate. "I just can't place my finger on it…" And in the blink of an eye Kate was completely upside down, having done a complete handstand in what seemed faster than a blink of the eye.

"I've been trying this new thing I read about in a book Rhonda gave me," said Kate as the rest of the group stared at her in shock, still not completely sure what was going on.

"It said that if you're upside down it can help you think, so I thought to myself, Kate, why not give it a go?"

"Well you could have warned us first," said Sticky, who had tipped over in surprise when where Kate's face had been a second ago there was just a pair of knees surrounded by torn and faded jeans. "And besides, why didn't you just ask us for the answer?"

"Now where would the fun be in that?" scolded Kate. "Besides, I'm sure Mr. Benedict would want us to at least try to figure it out for ourselves."

"Well I'm all for the boys just telling us the answer," called out Constance from her spot on the floor. "It just doesn't make any sense to me."

"Oh come on Connie, let's show these boys that us girls have what it takes!" said Kate as she picked up one of her hands and ruffled Constance's hair. Reynie and Sticky felt themselves unconsciously sliding away from Kate, warily watching her swaying feet way up in the air.

"So let's see, I can't think of anything that changes how many feet it has based on the time of day," oblivious to Reynie and Sticky slowly pushing themselves as far away as possible from Kate, who had proceeded to stroke her chin with her free hand. "So that means that one of those two has to be some kind of metaphor or something, it can't actually be real."

"Try thinking far back," called out Sticky, who had backed up against the wall of Kate's room, just waiting for her to come crashing down and wanting to be as far away as possible when it happened.

"Really far back," added Reynie, who was sitting several feet away but along the same wall as Sticky. "Like to the time of ancient Eygpt."

"Egypt?" asked Kate with a confused look on her face. "What would Egypt have to do with . . Oh!" And with the skills of a trained gymnast Kate flipped off from her hands and landed back into a cross legged position. "This is the riddle that that Sphinx says! The answer is man!"

"Great she figured it out, can we go and actually do something now?" Constance said exasperatedly as Reynie and Sticky began scooting themselves back towards the girls. Kate gave them a funny look, and they both almost started laughing again, but instead Reynie asked "So we know what the answer to the riddle is, but I'm confused as to where we can go from here. My first thought was that we would have to find a sphinx in the house, but I can't recall seeing one anywhere."

"I was thinking the same thing," concurred Sticky. "And even though the answer is 'man' that is just too general. I guess we were wrong about this being easy."

"Well, we solved the riddle," said Constance with surprising optimism. "So now all we have to do is figure out what to do with the answer."

"Constance is right," said Kate as she flashed an approving smile at Constance. Constance hid her face but everyone could tell that she was blushing slightly. "We just need to put out heads together and we can figure it out."

Motivated by their friend's optimism, Reynie and Sticky rejoined the circle on the floor with Kate and Constance and began bouncing ideas off of each other. And a few minutes later they suddenly figured out where they had to go next.


End file.
